A Despacho Ceremony, Shamanism

A despacho is an occasion to really focus on any areas of your life where you need support or would like to ask for blessings. It is quite a powerful way to set your intentions and let them go. The intention behind a despacho ceremony can range from something as noble as world peace, to something as down to earth as offering thanks for a bountiful harvest, to something as personal as relief from joint pain. You may be surprised how in the weeks or months following a despacho ceremony you are indeed receiving the things you asked for.

A despacho is an act of love and a reminder of the connections we share with all beings, elements, spirits, and sacred places. At the deepest level, it is an opportunity to enter into the essential unity of all things. Holding such a ceremony on a new moon, and on the first of the year, our intentions are received in higher vibrations, which is truly a unique opportunity to experience.

In Spanish, the word despacho literally means “dispatch or shipment”. In Peruvian traditions a despacho is a ceremonial offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the Apus (Mountain Spirits). You could perhaps think of it as a focused, formal way to “dispatch” or “ship” your prayers off to the powers that be. Despachos also help align personal energies with the cosmic ones.
Despachos really bring about desired change. During a despacho ceremony, the shaman gathers a variety of symbolic offerings such as wine, sugar, incense, grains, seeds, shells, gold and silver threads, red and white flower petals, candies and more. Every item represents a part of the Andean cosmology, is imbued with intent for connection to the mountains and the cosmos, and affects the totality of energy in the universe.

Each item is placed on a large sheet of paper with great care and intention, arrange them in a mandala-like shape. Prayers are added to the offering.

Building up the despacho can take some time, especially as participants remember more people and things they want to pray for – family, career, spiritual growth, forgiveness. But eventually the mandala is completed, the bundle is folded closed and tied up. Finally, the whole bundle is ceremonially burned, the participants turning their backs to the fire to allow the spirits to take the offering in peace. At the end, the whole bundle is burned in the special ceremony with incense and prayers as an offerings to the Pachamama, transforming the energy into new happenings. A sacred and balanced way of beginning our new year!

Testimonials

You are great. Every referral I got from you was unbelievably good. I hope, that the I will be so healthy, that only time I will contact you is for educational classes. I will see you soon.

Kevin

I asked for help with sleep problems and got the recommendation to visit Dr. Vladimir Gordin - I was surprised at first, of what is Chiropractic doctor can do for me?! But after visiting him just 1 time, my sleep got much better.Thanks a lot for your help!

John S.

I was recommended a great acupuncturist. Dr. Anatoliy Pak was so nice. After couple of visits, my back pain was gone

J.O.

My resent first ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica was much unexpected. I had 3 ceremonies during the week. The second one was so intense, I had a feeling I was going mad. Even though my girlfriend had the ayahuasca experience before, her stories were very different. I guess it is exactly as it sais, everyone gets what hey need to get and what they are ready for. After the ceremony, I was not totally sure that I was really ready for what I saw. I truly didn’t know what to do with the experience, which I had: there is no solidity in the world.

My resent first ayahuasca retreat in Costa Rica was much unexpected. I had 3 ceremonies during the week. The second one was so intense, I had a feeling I was going mad. Even though my girlfriend had the ayahuasca experience before, her stories were very different. I guess it is exactly as it sais, everyone gets what hey need to get and what they are ready for. After the ceremony, I was not totally sure that I was really ready for what I saw. I truly didn’t know what to do with the experience, which I had: there is no solidity in the world. We are all vibrations, energies, not a solid bodies. Even though I dose not seems like much, and I read and thought about it before, but one thing is to know on intellectual level and it is totally different, when you live in that experience. Ayahuasca ceremonies made me really different. I cannot be the same anymore. It is hard to grasp, what exactly changed, but it did. I loved it and hated it at the same time. And still waiting for the next time I will be able to meet Mother Ayahuasca and to do another retreat in Costa Rica or may be even go to Peru.

I've been coming to Healing Sessions with Nina for 2nd month already. Every week, new information is processed and clearings happening. Every participant in our group have his own healing happening. Every time we have 1 or 2 new people, and it looks like the whole group always need the same processing at the time. It is amazing, how it works and how the people attracted different weeks with different issues, like they know, when and where they need to come. Amazing!

Viktoria O.

After session with Helen, I've had very unexpected results. In couple of situation, where I would be screaming at my husband and go ballistic, I was very calm and patient. When I realized that, I understood, what enormous change happened. For me it is just the beginning. I am taking Helen's, next Bars class (Access Consciousness), so I can learn to process my "garbage" myself and to change my life. God Bless you for having all this information available to people!